Hannah Fairbank

Hannah is the GEF Secretariat’s Asia Regional Coordinator and the Senior Biodiversity Specialist for Asia. She leads a team of technical experts serving 17 Asian countries across all Global Environment Facility environmental sectors, manages a large project grant portfolio, and is a member of the biodiversity team supporting the GEF’s engagement with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Hannah also co-leads the GEF’s Wildlife Conservation for Development Integrated Program and works on several other integrated programs in Asia including Food Systems, Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, and Forest Biomes.

Hannah joined the GEF in November 2017 after more than 13 years with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) where she was a member of the senior management team of USAID’s office of Forestry and Biodiversity.  She co-chaired the development and launch of USAID's first-ever Biodiversity Policy that shapes the investment of $265 million annually and led the Agency's biodiversity mainstreaming portfolio. Hannah worked on engaging the private sector in creative approaches to fight wildlife and fisheries crime resulting in two public-private partnerships and significant leveraged resources. During her time with USAID, she managed a diverse grant portfolio and provided technical assistance to USAID's biodiversity conservation field programs throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Prior to joining USAID Hannah worked for Conservation International as a Luce environmental fellow, Iwokrama International Centre for Conservation and Development in Guyana, and the Vermont Forum on Sprawl in Hannah’s home state in the northern US. From 1999 to 2001 Hannah served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines in the integrated protected areas program. Hannah has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University (with concentration in development economics and environmental policy) and a Bachelor of Science from University of Oregon.  In addition to English, she speaks Spanish and Cebuano.